Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for April 9, 2021

 

It's time for the latest weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative fiction from around the web, this week with the many iterations of Star Trek, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general, The Walking Dead, Godzilla vs. Kong, The Nevers, Voyagers, The Power, tributes to Sarah Hughes, Joss Whedon's abuse of actors on the set of Justice League, Jordan Peterson is angry to be compared to the Red Skull and much more.

Speculative fiction in general:

• Leah Schnelbach shares the best science fiction and fantasy books coming out in April. 
• Jo Walton shares her March 2021 reading list.
  
• Tor.com shares seventeeen factual and fictional books about space exploration.
• James Davis Nicoll shares five science fiction novels which feature the scientifically improbable reactionless drive.
  
• Isabelle Steiger shares five books where magic has a cost. 
• James Davis Nicoll shares five SFF stories in which great power is not always used responsibly.
  
• Heather Walter shares five SFF books about wicked women. 
• Leah Schnelbach talks about fairy tale sister who don't hate each other.
  
• Sarah Raughley talks about black SFF.
  
• Christine Lynn Herman shares five books about modern teens with supernatural problems.
• Jennifer McMahon explains why horror fiction is popular in difficult times.
  
• Thoraiya Dyer shares eight fictional forests from SFF.
  
• G.W. Thomas takes a look at snake gods and were-serpents in the pulps. 
• Elle Perry profiles Sheree Renée Thomas. 
• Helen Shaw profiles Helen Oyeyemi.
  
• Matthew Ilseman discusses the relationship between Fritz Leiber and H.P. Lovecraft. 
• Ngo Vinh-Hoi shares his appreciation for the works of Stanley G. Weinbaum. 
• Michael R. Brown talks about women in the pulps, whether as editors, artists, writers or characters.
  
• William Lampkin talks about the death of the pulps in 1949.
  
• William Lampkin points out that Frank R. Paul's cover for the August 1928 issue of Amazing Stories does not depict Buck Rogers, who made is debut in this issue, but Richard Seaton from E.E. Smith's Skylark of Space.
  

 

Comics:

• G.W. Thomas takes a look at the pulp forebearers of the Savage Land from the Marvel Comics. 
• Erica Friedman offers an overview of manga in 1966. 
• Chelsea Steiner reports that psychologist and alt-right online personality Jordan Peterson is furious that Ta-Nehisi Coates's take on the Red Skull in his run on Captain America seems to be loosely based on him. 
• Matthew Dessem also reports that Jordan Peterson is furious that the latest version of the Red Skull bears some similarities to him.
• Camestros Felapton explains why comparing Jordan Peterson to the Red Skull is not as far fetched as it might seem at first glance.
  
• The Portland Press Herald reports that one of the few surviving copies of Action Comics No. 1, the comic which introduced Superman to the world, has been sold for a record-breaking 3.25 million US-dollar. 
• Joye Hummel, one of the first female writers of Wonder Woman, has died aged 97.
  

 

Film and TV:

• Guy Lodge calls The Pink Cloud a timely post-apocalyptic drama. 
• Peter Bradshaw calls Palm Springs an ingenious time loop romance.
  
• Peter Bradshaw calls A Common Crime a haunting political thriller with ghosts.  
• M. Shelly Conner calls Them a racism horror movie that's relentless but not gratuitous.  
• Charles Pulliam-Moore shares his thoughts on Made for Love.
  
• Caroline Siede shares her thoughts on the latest episode of Supergirl. 
• Scott von Doviak shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Flash.
  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of Debris.
  
• Paul Levinson shares his thoughts on the latest episode of For All Mankind. 
• Joanna Robinson talks about the cancellation of American Gods and wonders why Neil Gaiman's novels are so difficult to adapt. 
• Micah Peters asks what makes Invincible a superhero show for adults. 
• Andrew Pulver revisits the 1967 Jules Verne adaptation Rocket to the Moon.
  
• Andrew Roth reports about a 1991 Russian TV adaptation of Lord of the Rings that recently resurfaced on YouTube.
  
• Tom Breihan revisits the 2008 Batman movie The Dark Knight.  
• Germain Lussier revisits the 2011 horror movie Scream 4.
  
• Chris Edwards revisits the 2017 cyberpunk thriller Ghost in the Shell and finds it better than its reputation.  
• Various Tor staffers share traumatic moments from SFF movies they watched as children.
  
• Romesh Raganathan finds that many modern crime dramas simply have too much suspense for his taste.  
• Leah Schnelbach shares her appreciation for Princess Leia disguising herself as the bounty hunter Boussh in Return of the Jedi. 
• Luke Walpole wonders why so many recent TV shows and movies have portrayed the afterlife as a bureaucracy. 
• Olivia Rutigliano ranks the 100 best, worst and strangest filmic portrayals of Sherlock Holmes. 
  
• Danette Chavez interviews Edward James Olmos, star of Blade Runner, Miami Vice and the new Battlestar Galactica.
  
• Michael Cragg interviews Leslie Jordan, star of American Horror Story. 
• Ashley Clark interviews Larry Archiampong, director of the Relic series of short films.
  
• Ben Child hopes that the proposed ThunderCats movie can recapture the psychedelic magic of the 1980s cartoon. 
• Catherine Shoard reports that actor Regé-Jean Page was not cast as Superman's grandfather in Krypton due to being black.
  
• James Whitbrook reports about a controversy involving the Star Wars online resrouce Wookiepedia.
  
• Entertainment Weekly reports that the plagiarism lawsuit about the movie The Shape of Water has been decided in favour of Guillermo del Toro. 
• Tatiana Siegel chronicles the abuse that Hollywood and Broadway producer Scott Rudin has meted out against his assistants over the years.
  
• Guardian TV critic Sarah Hughes has died aged 48. 
• Kate Abbott remembers Sarah Hughes.
  

 

Comments on Star Trek in general:

• Keith R.A. DeCandido revisits the Star Trek Voyager episodes "Relativity" and "Warhead".
• Antonio Ferme reports that John de Lancie will reprise his role as Q in Star Trek Picard.
• Molly Templeton shares some news about the role Captain Kathryn Janeway is playing in the upcoming animated series Star Trek Prodigy.
• Watch a trailer for season 4 of Star Trek Discovery.
• Watch a teaser trailer for season 2 of Star Trek Picard.
• Watch Wil Wheaton interviews Sir Patrick Stewart and John de Lancie about season 2 of Star Trek Picard.
  

 

Comments on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general (spoilers): 

• Andy Welch shares his thoughts on "Power Broker", the latest episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
• Sulagna Misra shares her thoughts on "Power Broker".
• Germain Lussier shares his thoughts on "Power Broker".
• Keith R.A. DeCandido shares his thoughts on "Power Broker".
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw shares her thoughts on "Power Broker".
• Cora Buhlert shares her thoughts on "Power Broker".
• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier so far.
• Nick Romano explains how elements from the X-Men comics can now appear in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier due to Disney buying 20th Century Fox.
• Joe Jurado interviews Anthony Mackie who plays Sam Wilson a.k.a. the Falcon in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw explains why superhero costumes in the Marvel cinematic universe are much less colourful than their comics counterparts.
  

 

Comments on The Nevers:

• Caroline Framke calls The Nevers Joss Whedon's greatest hits in Victorian London.
  
• Cheryl Eddy calls The Nevers entertaining but overstuffed. 
• Gavia Baker-Whitelaw calls The Nevers a showcase for Joss Whedon's creative flaws.
  
• Cheryl Eddy interviews Amy Manson, one of the stars of The Nevers. 

Comments on Godzilla vs. Kong and its protagonists in general: 

• Camestros Felapton shares his thoughts on Godzilla vs. Kong. 
• James Whitbrook interviews Adam Wingard, director of Godzilla vs. Kong.
  
• James Whitbrook revisits the original 1962 King Kong vs. Godzilla. 
• Lawrence Person revisits the 2017 monster movie Kong: Skull Island.
• Katie Rife traces the development of Godzilla through the so-called Showa era.
• Matthew Chernov ranks all the Godzilla movies.
• Rebecca Rubin reports that Godzilla vs. Kong is successful both in cinemas, where open, and on streaming services. 
• James Hanton explains why Godzilla vs. Kong saved cinema rather than Tenet.
  
• Sam Barsanti reports that fans are clamouring for a sequel to Godzilla vs. Kong.
  

 

Comments on Voyagers:

• A.A. Dowd calls Voyagers "Lord of the Flies in space". 
• Germain Lussier calls Voyagers an all-too familiar riff on Lord of the Flies.
  

 

Comments on The Power:

• Cath Clarke calls The Power a merciless East End hospital horror film.
  
• Mike D'Angelo calls The Power a horror film marred by a blindingly obvious subtext.

 

Comments on The Walking Dead: 

• Alex McLevy shares his thoughts about the latest episode of The Walking Dead.
• Rob Bricken shares his thoughts on the latest episode of The Walking Dead.
  

 

Comments on Joss Whedon's abuse of actors on the set of Justice League:

• Kim Masters interviews Ray Fisher, who plays Cyborg, about the abuse he received at the hands of director Joss Whedon on the set of Justice League.
• Rachel Leishman shares the negative experiences actress Gal Gadot, who plays Wonder Woman, had with Joss Whedon on the set of Justice League.
  

 

Awards: 

• The winners of the 2020 BSFA Awards have been announced.
  
• The winner of the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award has been announced. 
• The winners of the 2021 Pulp Factory Awards have been announced.
  
• The shortlist for the 2021 Tolkien Society Awards has been announced.
  
• The finalists for the 2021 ibpa Benjamin Franklin Awards in the science fiction and fantasy as well as horror categories have been announced.
• The winner of the 2020 Royal Society's Young People's Book Prize has been announced.
• The winner of the 2021 Doc Weir Award has been announced.
• The winners of the 2021 Screen Actors Guild Awards have been announced.
• The winners of the 2021 VES Awards have been announced.
• Samuel R. Delany has won a lifetime achievement award at the Ainsfield-Wolf Book Awards.
• Sian Cain reports about a controversy because a transwoman was nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction, which upsets the TERFs.
• Adri Joy and Joe Sherry talk about the 2020 Nebula finalists and make some predictions for the Hugos.
  

 

Writing, publishing and promotion:

• Ty Johnston talks about writing different characters.
  
• Remco van Straten and Angeline B. Adams talk about worldbuilding. 
• Dan Stout shares some tips for balancing action and worldbuilding.
  
• Michael Sears talks about the importance of food in fiction.
  
• K.J. Maitland explains how she uses weather and natural disasters in her works. 
• Jessica Hamilton talks about the challenge of having a dead narrator tell a story from beyond the grave. 
• Tim Major explains how he came to write a science fictional locked room mystery. 
• Michael Kaufman talks about researching his dystopian mystery The Last Exit. 
• Danika Ellis talks about watching videos of other people's bullet journals.
  
• The SFWA offers a statement of support for Asian diaspora writers.
• Tor offers a series of virtual workshops aimed at people who want to work in publishing.
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch talks about writing screenplays and why it's often not a good idea. 
  
• File 770 reports about an uproar involving print ARCs with multiple covers for YA author Jay Kristoff, while less known authors only get e-ARCs. 
• Andrew Albanese reports about a bill in Maryland that would make it easier for libraries to license and lend out e-books.
  
• Vicki Lucas shares her love for the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, California.
  

Interviews:

• Karen Osborne and J.S. Dewes interview each other. 
• Carrie Cuinn interviews C.L. Clark.
  
• Andrea Johnson interviews Elly Bangs.
• Paul Weimer interviews Catherine Lundoff. 
• Kristin Iversen interviews Helen Oyeyemi.
  
• Runalong the Shelves interviews Oliver K. Langmead.
  
• The Qwillery interviews Erik Hoel.
  
• Jen Gheller interviews Gabrielle Roselynn Dina
  

Reviews:

• Paul Weimer reviews The Blackwing War by K.B. Spangler. 
• Blue Book Balloon reviews Advanced Triggernometry by Stark Holborn.
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Advanced Triggernometry by Stark Holborn. 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Emilie and the Sky World by Martha Wells.
  
• Katarina Betterton reviews The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk. 
• Beth Cato reviews Machinehood by S.B. Divya. 
• Gabino Iglesias reviews Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor. 
• Hephzibah Anderson reviews Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee. 
  
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Universal Language - The Airlocked Room Mystery by Tim Major
• Kat Hooper reviews In the Palace of Shadow and Joy by D.J. Butler.
  
• Colleen Mondor reviews Legendborn by Tracy Deonn. 
• James Davis Nicoll reviews Fireborne by Rosaria Munda. 
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Sistersong by Lucy Holland. 
  
• Mark Yon reviews The Moonsteel Crown by Stephen Deas. 
• Sean Dowie reviews Tower of Mud and Straw by Yaroslav Barsukov. 
• Tadiana Jones and Kat Hooper review Tower of Mud and Straw by Yaroslav Barsukov. 
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang. 
• J.C. Kang reviews The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart.
  
• James Davis Nicoll reviews The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco. 
• Kat Hooper reviews The Cunning Man by D.J. Butler and Aaron Michael Ritchey. 
• Linda Zagon reviews The Juice by Janet Stilson.
  
• Matthew Keeley reviews A River Called Time by Courttia Newland.
  
• Kat Hooper reviews We Shall Sing a Song Into the Deep by Andrew Kelly Stewart. 
• L.A. Young reviews First, Become Ashes by K.M. Szpara
  
• Gary K. Wolfe and Paula Guran review Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes.
  
• Frank Ormond reviews The Report of Mr. Charles Aalmers and Other Stories by Matthew Pungitore.
• Runalong the Shelves reviews The Difficult Loves of Maria Makiling by Wayne Santos
• Rob Bedford reviews Whisper Down the Lane by Clay McLeod Chapman. 
  
• Samantha Nelson reviews I'm Waiting for You by Kim Bo-Young. 
• Mike Parker reviews Later by Stephen King. 
  
• Russell Letson reviews The Unfinished Land by Greg Bear. 
• Leah Schnelbach reviews Inland by Téa Obreht. 
• Ian Mond reviews Relics, Wrecks and Ruins, edited by Aiki Flinthart.
• Runalong the Shelves reviews Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction From Africa and the African Diaspora edited by Zelda Knight and Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald. 

Classics reviews:

• G.W. Thomas revisits the 1919 science fiction story "The Runaway Skyscraper" by Murray Leinster.
  
• Cthulery revisits the 1927 horror story "Pickman's Model" by H.P. Lovecraft.
• Paul Fraser revisits the 1940 horror story "It" by Theodore Sturgeon. 
• Steve J. Wright revisits the August 1942 issue of Unknown.
• The Pink Cloud podcast revisits the 1943 horror novel Conjure Wife and the 1977 horror novel Our Lady of Darkness by Fritz Leiber.
  
• Schlock Value revisits the 1944 science fiction novella "No Woman Born" by C.L. Moore. 
• Paul Fraser revisits the 1947 science fiction story "The Man Who Never Grew Young" by Fritz Leiber.
  
• Sandy Ferber revisits the 1947 science fiction adventure novel The Forbidden Garden by John Taine.
  
• Frank Ormond revisits the 1951 science fiction story "Duel on Syrtis" by Poul Anderson.
  
• David Levinson revisits the May 1966 issue of If - Worlds of Science Fiction.
• Victoria Silverwolf shares her thoughts on the May 1966 issue of Fantastic. 
• Joachim Boaz revisits the 1968 science fiction novel Project Barrier by Daniel F. Galouye.
  
• Paperback Warrior revisits the 1973 gothic novel The Secret of Devil's Cave by Jennifer Hale a.k.a. Frank E. Smith.  
• The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy revisits the 1974 science fiction novel The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
  
• James Malizewski revisits the 1977 sword and sorcery story "The Straggler from Atlantis" by Manly Wade Wellman. 
  
• James Davis Nicoll revisits the 1990 science fiction novel The Light Bearer by Sam Nicholson a.k.a. Shirley Nikolaisen.
  
• Emmett Asher-Perrin revisits the 1990 fantasy novel Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. 
• Kat Hooper revisits the 1998 science fiction collection Hoka! Hoka! Hoka! by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson.

Con and event reports:

• DisCon III, the 2021 Worldcon in Washington DC, has announced that they will be moving to December and to a different hotel, because apparently the desire of some people for an in-person convention trumps considerations with family and travel difficulties this short before the holidays.
  
• John Coxon, Alison Scott and Liz Batty look ahead at the virtual 2021 Eastercon. 
• Farah Mendlesohn shares a report about Confusion, the virtual 2021 Eastercon. 
• Alison Scott also shares her issues with Confusion.
  
• The latest progress report for the 2021 World Fantasy Convention in Montreal, Canada, is now available. 
• The Glasgow in 2024 Worldcon bid shared a video presentation. 
• Srinarahari Mysore reports about the virtual 19th Annual/5th International Science Fiction Conference of the Indian Association for Science Fiction Studies Bangalore.
• The 2021 Robert E. Howard Days in Cross Plains, Texas, will be happening as an in-person event. 
• Mike Glyer reports about a proposed new law in France banning gatherings restricted to a specific group, which might affect the French Worldcon bid for 2026.
  
• Carlos Trejo shares some tips for turning any space in your home into a genre or fandom themed room.
• Doug Ellis recounts how he acquired an original cover painting from The Shadow pulp magazine.
  

 

Crowdfunding:

• The Deadlands, a speculative fiction magazine exploring all aspects of death, is looking for funding.
• 42: the wildly improbable ideas of Douglas Adams, a hardcover edition of extracts from the archives of Douglas Adams, is looking for funding.
• Books on the Hill Publishing is looking for funding to publish dyslexia friendly genre books for adults.
  
• Retro Virus Records is looking for funding to restore and reprint the largely lost 1917 science fiction novel The Cosmic Courtship by Julian Hawthorne, son of Nathaniel.
• The Appalachian Prison Books Project is looking for book donations.
  

 

Science and technology:

• Isaac Schultz reports that physicists think that they've spotted a very rare type of black hole. 
• George Dvorsky reports that astronomers have discovered three brown dwarves that are spinning extremely fast.
  
• James Davis Nicoll points out that the asteroid belt does not look as depicted in Hollywood movies.
  
• Courtney Linder explains how hackers can pick locks just by listening.  
• Lorna Smithers talks about wooden idols found in and around bogs throughout Northern Europe. 
• Nancy Jane Moore is horrified that many people don't know how to daydream. 
• Edward Brooke-Hitching reports about the mysterious Voynich manuscript.
  

Free online fiction:

• "The Justified" by Ann Leckie in Lightspeed. 
• "The Equations of the Dead" by An Owomoyela in Lightspeed.
  
• "The Book of the Kraken" by Carrie Vaughn in Uncanny Magazine.
• "Every Breath a Question, Every Heartbeat an Answer" by Cat Rambo in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
• "Concerto for Winds and Resistance" by Cara Masten DiGirolamo in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 
  
• "Ourobouros" by Dean-Paul Stephens in Clarkesworld.
  
• "Build-a-Grudge" by Joy Kennedy-O'Neill in Daily Science Fiction. 
• "Neon" by Marcus Vance in Daily Science Fiction.
  
• "The Gaze" by Stephanie Ascough in Daily Science Fiction.
  
• "Maeve in the Picture" by Clare McNamee-Arnett in Luna Station Quarterly. 
• "Annie Without Crow" by Michael Swanwick at Tor.com.
  
• "A Study in Ugliness" by H. Pueyo in The Dark.
• "The Family in the Adit" by A.T. Greenblatt in Nightmare Magazine.
• "Planting Season" by Jessica Jo Horowitz in Anathema Magazine.
• "Single Origin" by A.Z. Louise in Fantasy Magazine. 
• "Puckish Behaviour" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
  
• "Angoraphobia" by Cora Buhlert.
  

Trailers and videos: 

• Watch a trailer for Loki.
  
• Watch a trailer for Black Widow. 
  
• Watch another trailer for The Suicide Squad. 
• Watch a trailer for Jupiter's Legacy.
• Watch a trailer for Yasuke.
• Watch a trailer for Batman: The Long Halloween.
  
• Watch a trailer for The Djinn. 
• Watch a trailer for Cruella. 
• Watch a clip from Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
  
• Watch a trailer for Space Jam: A New Legacy.